Participation in sports for the athlete with the Marfan syndrome

The Marfan syndrome was first described in 1896 by Dr. Antoine Marfan, a French pediatrician [1, 2]. He described a young girl who manifested the classic musculoskeletal findings. This syndrome along with its propensity for aortic dilatation has been recognized across the world as one of the causes of sudden death in high-profile athletes receiving considerable media attention [3]. The Marfan syndrome with aortic dilatation is related to a mutation in the fibrillin I gene [1, 2]. The incidence in the general population is approximately 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000, and it has an autosomal dominance pattern of inheritance [4, 5]. It is a syndrome comprising cardiovascular, visual, and skeletal manifestations, which will be discussed in this chapter.